The present invention relates generally to speech analysis systems, and more particularly to computer-implemented natural language parsers.
Dialog can be described as effective communication between two or more parties. An effective communication necessitates the participation of at least two parties. If two participants are attempting to engage in dialog, but they have no common language, then their communication cannot be effective, resulting in the lack of dialog. Another important aspect of dialog is turn-taking. An effective dialog consists of turns (or chances to speak) by each of the participants.
Present computer-implemented speech processing systems for translation lack the natural back-and-forth turn-taking nature of a dialog. Typically, these systems are passive systems which slavishly translate the speech involved in a dialog. The present systems take little or no active role in directing the dialog in order to help the dialog participant(s) achieve a goal, such as purchasing an airplane ticket.
The present invention overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages as well as other disadvantages. In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a computer-implemented method and apparatus is provided for processing a spoken request from a user. A speech recognizer converts the spoken request into a digital format. A frame data structure associates semantic components of the digitized spoken request with predetermined slots. The slots are indicative of data which are used to achieve a predetermined goal. A speech understanding module which is connected to the speech recognizer and to the frame data structure determines semantic components of the spoken request. The slots are populated based upon the determined semantic components. A dialog manager which is connected to the speech understanding module may determine at least one slot which is unpopulated based upon the determined semantic components and in a preferred embodiment may provide confirmation of the populated slots. A computer generated-request is formulated in order for the user to provide data related to the unpopulated slot.
For a more complete understanding of the invention, its objects and advantages, reference should be made to the following specification and to the accompanying drawings.